Integrating information systems during mergers: integration modes typology, prescribed vs constructed implementation process

Today Information Systems (IS) integration constitutes one of the major success factors of mergers and acquisitions. This article draws on two case studies of firms having realized more than 10 mergers and acquisitions between 1990 and 2000. This paper shows the importance of carrying out a double approach to understand IS integration process. The first approach represents the necessity of using organizational configuration to define possible IS integration modes. Thus we show the importance of organizational, strategic and technological contingencies within the elaboration of integration mode. Then, we complete our analysis with a second approach based on the organizational change theory so as to determine two IS integration process dynamics, i.e. a prescribed integration and a constructed one. These two dynamics allow to apprehend the difficulties in implementing the integration modes chosen for the IS field

Quels sont les impacts des PGI sur le processus d'audit ? Le cas de l'auditeur légal

Le développement des progiciels de gestion intégrés (PGI) au sein des entreprises s'explique par la nécessité d'homogénéiser leur système d'information et de sécuriser les données comptables et financières. L'objet de cette étude est de cerner les facteurs de risques mais également les difficultés spécifiques liées à la démarche d'audit en environnement PGI. La littérature souligne les liens existant entre processus d'audit et PGI, mais n'aborde pas spécifiquement la problématique de l'auditeur légal dans cet environnement informatique. L'analyse de la thématique par la théorie de la complexité apporte un éclairage particulier à cette recherche. Une étude exploratoire, réalisée sur le terrain sous forme d'entretiens semi directifs effectués auprès de commissaires aux comptes, a mis en évidence deux principaux résultats. En premier lieu, notre étude montre qu'il existe des risques particuliers au niveau des interfaces, du chemin de révision et des techniques d'audit informatisées. En second lieu, notre recherche identifie des stratégies d'acteurs qui tentent de simplifier la complexité croissante du processus d'audit en environnement PGI.Audit; PGI; théorie de la complexité; auditeur légal

Fusion d’entreprises et intégration des systèmes d’information

International audienc

Today Information Systems (IS) integration constitutes one of the major success factors of mergersand acquisitions. This article draws on two case studies of firms having realized more than 10mergers and acquisitions between 1990 and 2000. This paper shows the importance of carrying out adouble approach to understand IS integration process. The first approach represents the necessity ofusing organizational configuration to define possible IS integration modes. Thus we show theimportance of organizational, strategic and technological contingencies within the elaboration ofintegration mode. Then, we complete our analysis with a second approach based on theorganizational change theory so as to determine two IS integration process dynamics, i.e. a prescribedintegration and a constructed one. These two dynamics allow to apprehend the difficulties inimplementing the integration modes chosen for the IS field.

International audienc

Today Information Systems (IS) integration constitutes one of the major success factors of mergersand acquisitions. This article draws on two case studies of firms having realized more than 10mergers and acquisitions between 1990 and 2000. This paper shows the importance of carrying out adouble approach to understand IS integration process. The first approach represents the necessity ofusing organizational configuration to define possible IS integration modes. Thus we show theimportance of organizational, strategic and technological contingencies within the elaboration ofintegration mode. Then, we complete our analysis with a second approach based on theorganizational change theory so as to determine two IS integration process dynamics, i.e. a prescribedintegration and a constructed one. These two dynamics allow to apprehend the difficulties inimplementing the integration modes chosen for the IS field.

International audienc

Evidence for Degradation of the Chrome Yellows in Van Gogh’s Sunflowers : A Study Using Noninvasive In Situ Methods and Synchrotron-Radiation-Based X-ray Techniques

This paper presents firm evidence for the chemicalalteration of chrome yellow pigments in Van Goghs Sunflowers (Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam). Noninvasive in situ spectroscopic analysis at several spots on the painting, combined with synchrotron-radiation-based X-ray investigationsof two micro-samples, revealed the presence of different types of chrome yellow used by Van Gogh, including the lightfast PbCrO$_{4}$ and the sulfur-rich PbCr$_{1-x}$SxO$_{4}$ (x~0.5) variety that is known for its high propensity to undergo photoinduced reduction. The products of this degradation process, i.e., CrIII compounds, were found at the interface between the paint and the varnish. Selected locations of the painting with the highest risk of color modification by chemical deterioration of chrome yellow are identified, thus calling for careful monitoring in the future

Full spectral XANES imaging using the Maia detector array as a new tool for the study of the alteration process of chrome yellow pigments in paintings by Vincent van Gogh

A combination of synchrotron radiation (SR) micro X-ray fluorescence ($\mu$-XRF) and XRF mode X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) measurements at the Cr K-edge already allowed us to establish that the photo-reduction of chromates to Cr(III) compounds is the cause of darkening of chrome yellow pigments $(PbCr_{1}−_{x}S_{x}O_{4}, 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.8)$ in a number of paintings by Vincent van Gogh and in corresponding artificially aged paint models. A silicon drift detector (SDD) was employed to record the Cr-K XRF radiation in these X-ray micro beam-based measurements. However, in view of the limited count rate capabilities and collection solid angle of a single device, $\mu$-XRF and $\mu$-XANES employing single element SDDs (or similar) are primarily suited for collection of spectral data from individual points. Additionally, collection of XRF maps via point-by-point scanning with relatively long dwell times per point is possible but is usually confined to small areas. The development of the 384 silicon-diode array Maia XRF detector has provided valuable solutions in terms of data acquisition rate, allowing for full spectral (FS) XANES imaging in XRF mode, i.e., where spectroscopic information is available at each pixel in the scanned map. In this paper, the possibilities of SR Cr K-edge FS-XANES imaging in XRF mode using the Maia detector are examined as a new data collection strategy to study the speciation and distribution of alteration products of lead chromate-based pigments in painting materials. The results collected from two micro-samples taken from two Van Gogh paintings and an aged paint model show the possibility to perform FS-XANES imaging in practical time frames (from several minutes to a few hours) by scanning regions of sample sizes of the same order (more than 500 $\mu$m). The sensitivity and capabilities of FS-XANES imaging in providing representative chemical speciation information at the microscale (spatial resolution from ~ 2 to 0.6 $\mu$m) over the entire scanned area are demonstrated by the identification of $Cr(OH)_{3}$, Cr(III) sulfates and/or Cr(III) organometallic compounds in the corresponding phase maps, as alteration products. Comparable Cr-speciation results were obtained by performing equivalent higher spatial resolution SR $\mu$-XRF/single-point $\mu$-XANES analysis using a more conventional SDD from smaller regions of interest of each sample. Thus, large-area XRF mode FS-XANES imaging (Maia detector) is here proposed as a valuable and complementary data collection strategy in relation to “zoomed-in” high-resolution μ-XRF mapping and single-point $\mu$-XANES analysis (SDD)